The Cabinet Committee of Infrastructure today approved the development of four laning of 100.06 km long Solapur-Maharashtra/Karnataka section on NH-9 in Maharasthra under National Highways Development Project Phase III under BOT mode on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer basis.

The total cost of the project including land acquisition, rehabilitation and pre-construction activities will be INR 991.67 crore. The concession period including construction period of this project will be 25 years.

The project is covered in the districts of Pune, Solapur and Osmanabad in Maharashtra.

The main object of the project is to expedite the improvement of infrastructure in Maharashtra and also in reducing the time and cost of travel for traffic, particularly heavy traffic, plying between Solapur-Maharashtra/Karnataka border. The NH-9 is major link between Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The NH-9 also caters long distance traffic moving from Mumbai and Northern India to Hyderabad, being the shortest route and further connects Vijayawada and Machilipatnam Port in Andhra Pradesh. It will also increase the employment potential for the local labourers for the project activities.